How, When, and Why Moore's Law Will Finally Collapse

One day, Moore's Law will no longer hold true. This rule says computer power doubles every 18 months. But just how will it break down? And when? In the video above, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku explains that it will fall apart in about a decade, and tells just what might happen.

He says that computer power just cannot continue to increase at this rate. And that presents a problem, being that the limits of silicon will be reached soon. Once Pentium chips get down to 5 nanometers, they'll simply overheat. Accordingly, we'll have to find replacements for them. For now, we have dual-core processers, to try to help alleviate the problem, but eventually, they won't be of any help.

However, there are some alternatives in the works in the form of different types of computers—protein, DNA, optical, molecular, or quantum machines. Though Kaku believes Moore's Law will be adjusted as it slows down, through things like three-dimensional or optical chips or even parallel processing. The good news is, there's still about 10 years to figure it out. [big think via Geek]